


Guardians of the Galaxy: The Healing Process

by UnbeatableSquirrelGirl



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Guardians of the Galaxy - Freeform, Post Avengers Infinity War, Short One Shot, post Avengers 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 14:58:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16286744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnbeatableSquirrelGirl/pseuds/UnbeatableSquirrelGirl
Summary: Nearly three years have passed since the death of Gamora, and Peter Quill just isn't the same.  Join the Guardians as they try to make him see that, no matter what, they're still a team.





	Guardians of the Galaxy: The Healing Process

Peter ran a hand through his unshaven beard. Truth was, he hadn’t shaved since… Well, since it happened. 

It had to be at least one in the morning, but, as usual, Peter couldn’t sleep, and the bags under his eyes did nothing to hide his exhaustion.  
Standing up, he made his way to the fridge, hoping to find something cold and alcohol-based. Something that would burn going down and make his senses go fuzzy. Something that would suffocate the ache in his heart that hadn’t gone away since… since she died. Damn, even thinking about her name brought fresh tears to his eyes. Then again, Peter had come to accept that the tears would remain a constant part of his life from now on.

“Shit,” Peter grumbled as he realized that he must be out of drinks. Although, he could’ve sworn that he had just put a six-pack on the bottom shelf the other day. Sighing in exhaustion, he knelt down and began to dig through the various piles of (most likely moldy) food, before a voice broke through the silent corridors of the Milano.

“Yeah, you won’t be finding your drinks anytime soon, Quill,” Rocket said in a rather melancholy tone, “I threw ‘em out into space so someone else could get drunk.”

Peter felt the anger swell up within him, but before he could yell at rocket for screwing with his drinks, another voice rang out.

“I am Groot.”

Rocket sighed and agreed with the tree-like alien, “Yeah, Groot, you’re right. Let’s cut the crap. Quill, it’s been almost three years…” Rocket sounded like he was going to say more, but stopped, as if unable to find the right words. 

'Two years, 11 months, and four days,' Peter found himself mentally responding. He turned his gaze from the refrigerator shelves to the people behind him, and noticed that Drax and Mantis were surrounding him as well.

“Quill,” Drax started, “Your beard is hideous.”

“Drax! We said we were gonna mention that after everything else, remember? Aw, what the hell. Quill, I know these last couple years have been tough for you, but you’re not the only person on this ship or part of this crew. And, as much as you might think differently, we’ve been grieving pretty friggin’ hard, too. All of us miss her like crazy.” A tear ran down his fuzzy cheek, and Peter let his eyes watch it cascade down it’s twisting path until it reached the floor with an undetectable pat. “And believe us, we know that you two had something special, and that you loved each other differently than the way we loved her, but that’s the point: we did love her. And I know beyond a shadow of a damn doubt that Gamora,” Peter’s heart gave a painful throb at the mention of her name, “That’s right, I said her name, she wouldn’t want you to have let yourself get stuck in this slump that your in for even a second, much less three years. And as much as I hate to admit it, you’re our captain, but right now you’re doing one hell of an awful job. I mean, look at yourself. I know that we said we’d take some time to regroup after what happened with Thanos,” Yet another name that struck up a violent river of emotion, except this time it was a malignant hate that threatened to come spewing out of him like a volcanic eruption, “But I thought that meant for at most a year, not three. You haven’t shaved since the war, the bags under your eyes are big enough to hold ten full-sized Groots, and you’ve consumed enough alcohol to disintegrate your liver. I mean, I don’t even understand how you’re still alive. To sum it up, we want our captain back, and, yeah, we know it won’t ever really be the same old Peter Quill, we at least want you to be the one that Gamora would have wanted you to be. The one that she died knowing you could be. So, get off your ass, take a shower, shave your God damn face, and let’s get back to saving the friggin’ galaxy.” 

A small but hopeful smile shown on all of their faces, and something that had long been forgotten started to spark inside of Peter’s heart. He had forgotten what it was like to be happy, and he knew that Gamora wouldn’t have wanted him to grieve her as bad as he had. Looking out among his crew, he smiled for the first time in a long time.

“We’re family, Quill. And, while I can not speak for the others, I love you. All of you,” Drax stated, looking around at each individual person and alien.

“I, too, love you all as well,” said Mantis with her usual goofy smile.

“I am Groot.”

Peter figured everyone was done, but Rocket suddenly blurted out quickly, “I love you guys, too.” Mouths hung open as everyone processed what the raccoon-ish alien said. “Ok, ok, stop acting like it’s such a big deal. God, I can’t say anything around you people.” The smile that threatened to creep over Rocket’s face allowed Peter to detect that he wasn’t upset, and Peter found himself feeling that he needed to respond.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and said in a gruff, and much shakier than he would have liked, voice, “I, uh… I love you guys, too. And, um… well I’m... I'm really sorry that I haven’t been around for you. I just… I loved her more than anything,” at this, his voice cracked, but he continued on, “But you’re right when you said that she wouldn’t want to see me like this. I’m… please, uh, accept my apology.”

Drax cleared his throat and said, “Of course we accept your apology, as long as you shave that horrendous clump of hair off your chin.”

“Dude!” Rocket exclaimed.

“What?” Drax replied defensively, “You said you would mention it, but you did not. I was simply telling Quill that we all find his beard extremely disgusting.”

Rocket opened his mouth as if to reply, but just ended up grinning instead.

“I am Groot.”

“No, Groot, I don’t know if that’s really the kinda thing we’d all be interested in doing-“

But the tree was already walking over to Peter and wrapping his wooden arms around him in an embrace. Peter put an arm around Groot, and then felt the fragile arms of Mantis wrap around the hugging pair. Then, Drax’s arms engulfed them, until Rocket sighed, mumbled “Oh, what the hell,” and wrapped his arms around their legs.

Drax was the first to back away. “I do not mind the hugging, and we can hug later if we must, but I cannot spend anymore time close to your beard.”

Peter chuckled and said, “Man, you’re like really hung up on my beard, aren’t you?”

After removing himself from the Guardian-group-hug, he made his way down towards the shower. As he was walking, Peter somehow knew that, even though Gamora wasn’t alive, she was smiling. He felt himself smiling and crying at the same time, and, for a brief moment, he could feel a familiar hand on his arm and a kiss on the cheek. Peter closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and realized what this all meant. 

Even though Gamora wasn’t physically here, she was still a part of their team and the love of his life. Peter knew he still had adventures to go on and galaxies to save, but he smiled at the fact that he would one day see Gamora again.

His mouth shifting into a hopeful smile, Peter Quill knew that, no matter where he was, Star Lord would always be a Guardian of the Galaxy through-and-through.


End file.
